2017 Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class Woos Families With Luxury
CARS.COM — Luxury is defined as something of great comfort and ease that is expensive but not necessary. By that characterization, the 2017 Mercedes GLS550 — part of the elite GLS-Class family — has all the trappings of luxury. This full-size SUV is comfortable, with gleaming surfaces, ambient lighting and features that facilitate everything from parking to driver awareness. It is also expensive and, arguably, unnecessary.
Related: Our View: 2017 Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class Review
The 2017 GLS-Class is new in name only. Formerly known as the GL-Class, Mercedes refreshed and revamped its name for 2017, adding the S to place this three-row SUV in similarly indulgent cahoots with its sister sedan, the iconic S-Class.
The entry-level GLS450 starts near $69,625, including a destination fee (a GLS350d is slated to land in the U.S., but the turbo-diesel variant is still awaiting EPA approval and isn’t listed on Mercedes-Benz’s site). The GLS550 I drove starts around $93,000 and as-tested came in at a cool $110,565. This is a high price tag for a family hauler, especially since in my experience luxury and family tend to be incongruous.
My minivan is littered with string-cheese wrappers, half of a breakfast sandwich from a harried morning last week, and a layer of dog hair. Moreover, one of my children thinks that the car windows are a place for stickers and another has been known to climb all over the car’s exterior like a crazed gorilla. I’m not proud of any of this, and I try to clean or contain much of it on a regular basis, but this is simply what family life often looks like when you spend ample time in the car.
Ultimately, my family would beat up this luxuriously fantastic $100,000-plus family hauler just as we’ve done to our $30,000 minivan, which seems cruel. But if you’ve got cash to burn — or have a gentler approach to life in the car — have at it.
A few highlights: The Easy Entry lever, which folds the second-row seat and pushes it forward, makes third-row access easy. The standard massage feature on the front seats is wonderful and something that I maintain belongs in every family hauler. Active Parking Assist searches for parallel parking spots and, once found, maneuvers the SUV into the spot while the driver controls the brake and gears; this is a boon for parents driving city streets looking for an elusive parking spot near the kids’ soccer games. Soft-close doors assuage a parent’s traumatized ears, optional heated and cooled front cupholders get your coffee and water to their ideal temperatures, and Apple CarPlay essentially turns the infotainment system into your smartphone, which makes things easy and comfortable.
The GLS550’s safety features are high-tech, adding to the easy part of luxury. This vehicle has many active assists — crosswind, lane keeping, adaptive high-beam and blind spot — that work to protect you on your journeys. And Attention Assist is every sleep-deprived parent’s best friend. This system detects changes in driver behavior, makes adjustments to correct errors and suggests a rest when things start to get really crazy.
The only thing that isn’t ideal is rear cargo space. With the third row in use — and for my family of five, it must be — cargo space diminishes significantly from 49.4 cubic feet to just 16 cubic feet. With more useful cargo space behind the third row, this car would be priceless; as it stands, the 2017 GLS comes at a price. It’s up to you whether you’re willing to pay it.
